What's Happening at
SpiritualityandPractice.com
April 22, 2020
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By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the April 22nd celebration of Earth Day. Spiritual practices are the best ways we know to demonstrate kindness and courtesy toward the Earth, to express our gratitude and wonder, and to yield to the mystery and the beauty of it all.
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Directed by Philip Hunt
Apple-TV is streaming this new 36-minute animated family film based on Oliver Jeffers's
New York Times
bestselling picture book. It revels in Earth's glory as a complex ecosystem, home to billions of organisms and creatures, as a young boy comes to see his world with fresh eyes.
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Directed by Jeff Gibbs
This documentary, released for Earth Day, asks sobering questions and gives delusion-shattering information. With plenty of examples to back up their arguments, Gibbs and executive producer Michael Moore posit that we are turning what was left of nature into just another product in the profit-making system.
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By Fizza Raza
"The same cleverness that justifies our use of nature also justifies why we need to use our privilege to protect nature now," posits this 16-year-old author: "we are the only species capable of doing so."
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By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
During the month of Ramadan, the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. To celebrate, Muslims engage in fasting, intensified spiritual practice, and good deeds. Here are e-courses, book excerpts, poetry, and more to deepen your understanding of Ramadan.
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By the S&P Team
We continue to add to this index of resources, with daily links from our homepage. Check out the
One World: Together at Home
playlist, tips for making reading sacred, passages on solitude, Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "Kindness," and
more
.
More Practices
: National Parks Week, World Book Day, Birthday of John James Audubon, Children's Book Week, Annual Sense of Smell Day
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By Br. David Steindl-Rast, Patricia Campbell Carlson, and Margaret Wakeley
May 4 - 29, 2020
Few if any of us can travel right now, but that won't stop us from going on a cruise with Br. David to learn about grateful living through the lens of the three great virtues: faith, hope, and love. In this online retreat, Br. David speak of hope as "openness for surprise." He helps us
explore various facets of hope on the personal level -- the wild joy of belonging, how limitations can be opportunities, holding expectations lightly -- and then looks at the broader social ramifications of this virtue.
Read more and sign up:
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By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
April 20 - May 29, 2020
This online retreat started Monday, but it's not too late to sign up. We invite you to join us and enrich your experiences outdoors -- or through the nature that you can find in your own home and out your windows. Find out what prompted Henry David Thoreau to proclaim "My profession is always to be alert, to find God in nature, to know God’s lurking places, to attend to all the oratorios and the operas in nature." Read more and sign up:
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Living with Uncertainty. Dealing with Disappointment. Working with Worry. Mastering the Art of Resilience. If any of these themes are cropping up in your life, these specially selected e-courses -- for as little as $14.70 with a special 30 percent discount -- can provide vital support. You get to choose your own start date and pace.
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By Various Directors
Missing baseball season? This collection of film reviews shows the place this sport holds in our hearts and our culture, and it can give you ideas for new films to see or old favorites worth another viewing.
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DVDs and Streaming Releases
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Directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade
This coming-of age culinary drama speaks to interfaith experiences as a portal to the bounties of our common humanity. A smart, multi-talented twelve year old -- caught between the Jewish and Muslim parts of his family -- embraces a philosophy that food can bring people together.
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By David Glidden
With great scripts, directing, and acting, this binge-worthy TV sitcom also boasts an an unprecedented philosophical understory. A professor emeritus of classics and philosophy takes an in-depth look at the show's moral dilemmas and metaphysical underpinnings.
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By Cate Stillman
No matter how much time we are given in life, we are called to share our love, energy, and special talents with others.
Master of You
aims to reinvigorate this capacity within us through the power and presence of the five elements of Ayurveda and innovative yoga techniques.
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By Lisa Mantchev
What do you do when you're given one wish, no more no less? When a young girl begins polling friends about the wishes they cherish, none seems right for that singular opportunity ... until she sees something larger than any one of them.
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Spiritual Literacy Blog
By Frederic Brussat
Arundhati Roy -- an Indian novelist, activist for anti-globalist movements, and a vociferous critic of U.S. capitalism and foreign policy -- offers a challenge for us to use the pandemic to usher in a new world.
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Short & Sweet Spirituality Blog
By Frederic Brussat
What is the one thing you have to figure out about the meaning of life? Read these movie and literary lines, proverbs, questions, and wisdom from the Christian, Sufi, and Hindu traditions to reflect on your own answer.
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KidSpirit Youth Voices Blog
By
Rajvi Khanjan
An experience in ballet class helps this young author learn what people look like when they are trying to pursue the right kind of happiness and satisfaction -- and to be motivated to question the typical definition of success.
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Praying the News Blog
By Micah Bucey
These concise, meaningful prayers from New York City bless healthcare workers, faith leaders, artists, elected officials, those who are afraid, those who have died, and more. We add to them daily, so if you haven't looked lately, read on!
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Practicing Democracy Project
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By Habib Todd Boerger
When we look at ways in which the United States has fallen short of its ideals, a personal question arises: To what extent am I living up to these democratic ideals in relation both to myself and others?
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By Deborah Diesen
This powerful book about U.S. voting-rights history covers the founders' intentions for voting rights, the plight of slaves (for whom this founding ideal was not real), the dropping of rules about wealth, the 19th amendment, voter suppression, and more, with the refrain: "A right isn't right / Till it's granted to all."
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By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat and Darren Polito
"Whatever happens to another," wrote Meister Eckhart, "whether it be a joy or a sorrow, happens to me." These 12 quotes with accompanying pictures remind us that empathy matters as much now, in times of social distancing, as ever.
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A Thought to Carry with You
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If you have been fortunate enough to read
Etty Hillesum's letters
, you may remember what she wrote to her dear friends Jopie and Klaas from Westerbork prison camp during World War II:
"The misery here is quite terrible; and yet, late at night when the day has slunk away into the depths behind me, I often walk with a spring in my step along the barbed wire. And then time and again, it soars straight from my heart -- I can't help it, that's just the way it is, like some elementary force -- the feeling that life is glorious and magnificent, and that one day we shall be building a whole new world. Against every new outrage and every fresh horror, we shall put up one more piece of love and goodness, drawing strength from within ourselves."
"Drawing strength from within ourselves." This drawing of resources from an inner well allows us to be right in the middle of the world's misery and, even so, discover love. When we become aware, as Etty did, that all of life is pure gift, we gain access to two essential qualities: peace and wonder. Peace, in knowing that we need not depend on circumstances to bring us happiness. Wonder, in recognizing that our very breath comes to us miraculously, each inhalation another sign that we are loved.
May an extra dose of peace and wonder be yours in the weeks ahead. And may our appreciation of your being here be strongly heard by your heart.
Blessings,
Your Spirituality & Practice Team
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Patricia Campbell Carlson
Sue Tracey
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